Federal government ends the "Energy Challenge

Launched by Doris Leuthard in 2016, the "Energy Challenge" was to spend almost four years raising public awareness of the need to use energy sparingly. Various channels were used, celebrities were brought in, two advertising agencies and numerous companies were involved. According to NZZ on Sunday the campaign is said to have cost over 41 million Swiss francs. The federal government contributed 15.4 million Swiss francs, with companies covering the rest. This is the most the federal government has spent on any other public awareness campaign in the last two years.

Celebrity ambassadors such as Stress (left) and Xherdan Shaqiri (right) accompanied the launch of the "Energy Challenge" launched by Doris Leuthard (center) in 2016.

The lead agency was Aroma. In 2016 she led the campaign on behalf of the federal government; in 2017, it was awarded the funds to continue the "Energy Challenge" on its own. Aroma states vis-à-vis the NZZ on Sunday on record that they had always exceeded the measurable targets set with their partners. Aroma awarded contracts to third parties - for example, 20 Minuten. The free newspaper regularly published paid PR articles on the energy topic.

The "Energy Challenge" has repeatedly been a thorn in the side of conservative parliamentarians in particular - even though it was largely financed by private individuals. This led to several proposals. SVP National Council member Christian Imark, for example, criticized the fact that the federal government had "virtually bought PR journalists in a large media company. The campaign was expensive, questionable from the point of view of subsidy law - and it achieved nothing. Imark justifies this assessment with the fact that the energy targets set by the federal government will probably not be achieved.
In general, there is criticism that the federal government likes to communicate a lot. The "army of PR employees in the federal government" is growing steadily, writes the NZZ on Sunday. Among others, "almost all large Swiss advertising, communications and public relations companies" were profiteers.

What bothers National Councilor Imark about the big prevention campaigns: "Once you have them, you can't get rid of them". The Love Life campaign, which has been running since 1987, is cited as an example.

The last word on the subject of energy has not yet been spoken. The "Energy Challenge" is coming to an end, but the Swiss Federal Office of Energy has announced that a follow-up campaign is "in the concept phase.

20 Minuten accompanied the "Energy Challenge" with regular paid-content articles on the topic of energy (photo: screenshot 20min.ch).